It may here be observed, that this feeling still exists very generally and strongly throughout Abyssinia.
The greatest happiness which, in the opinion of the Abyssinians, can be found in this life, is to reach Jerusalem. Burning with this desire, great numbers of men and women continually bid adieu to their homes with the view of performing this holy pilgrimage. The fate that awaits them is a sad return for the mistaken goodness and piety of their intentions; for in crossing the Red Sea they are almost always taken prisoners by the Turks, and, far from happiness, Jerusalem, or their own country, they thus end their days in misery and bondage.
FOOTNOTES:
[29] We are told in Mr. Salt's Journal, in vol. iii. of Lord Valentia's Travels, that Guebra Mascal, this very person, was made Governor of Tigré by Tecla Georgis in 1788, and, though deposed, died much regretted in 1805.
[30] Powussen was a powerful chief of the Galla tribes; and the object of Ras Michael in this alliance was to conciliate these formidable barbarians.—Am. Ed.
CHAPTER XII.
Bruce accompanies the King's Army, and returns with it to Gondar.
By the queen's permission, Bruce for a short time took up his abode at Emfras, situated on the east side of Tzana, the greatest lake in Abyssinia, being about fifty miles long, thirty-five broad, and containing several islands.
On the 13th of May, 1770, the king's army approached the town of Emfras, which in a few hours was completely deserted; for, although Ras Michael was strict, and even just, in time of peace, yet it was known that, the moment he took the field, like the tiger roused from his lair, he became licentious and cruel. The Mohammedan town near the water was plundered in a moment, and some of the straggling troops came even to Bruce's residence to demand meat and drink. He therefore thought it prudent at once to repair to the king, and accordingly, the next morning at daybreak he mounted his horse, and in a few hours reached the tents of his majesty and Ras Michael, which were placed about five hundred yards asunder—no one daring to stand, or even pass between them.